Brussels (Brussels Morning) On the occasion of the 10th meeting of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides today hailed the EU Farm to Fork Strategy as an invaluable mechanism for achieving a sustainable EU food system.
The online meeting provided an opportunity to discuss ongoing work on food loss and waste prevention with member states and private sector organisations, including Lithuania, Croatia and Germany, FEBA, HOTREC and Zero Waste Scotland.
According to a recent UN report, the world wasted about 931 million metric tons of food in 2019 — an average of 121 kilograms per person, representing about 17% of all food that was available to consumers that year.
“Tackling food loss and waste is crucial in order to achieve a sustainable food system and member states and businesses should make such actions an integral part of their recovery plans,”Kyriakides declared.
The Food Safety Commissioner announced that the Commission will propose targets to reduce food waste across the EU, as well as the revision of EU date-marking rules to enhance consumer awareness of its importance.
During the meeting, the EU executive provided an update on flagship actions to reduce food waste under the Farm to Fork Strategy, including work on food waste measurement and the setting of EU-wide targets for food waste reduction as well as activities related to date marking.
“Stakeholders in general will determine the actions that will achieve the Code of Conduct objective,” Isabelle Rollier, representing the Commission, said, noting that the actions should be proportional to the aspirational objectives.
EU countries and private sector organisations explained how the Food Losses and Food Waste Platform’s work and its recommendations for action have been supporting their activities on the ground, so far.
